[Project] NUTRITIOUS - Nutritional value of marine organisms for sustainable, nutrition-sensitive marine aquaculture

Context

Aquatic organisms are valuable sources of nutrients that play an important role in human nutrition. While global wild seafood catch has remained relatively unchanged for the past decades, global aquaculture production has been growing fast to meet the world's increasing demand for aquatic food.

However, most of the aquaculture research has been directed toward improving the performance of the farmed species rather than of their nutritional value for human nutrition and health. In this context, the ‘nutrition-sensitive’ approach to aquaculture has recently emerged to reorient aquaculture production towards improving nutrition and health outcomes. Marine aquaculture by-products are a valuable source of minerals, vitamins, protein and lipid fractions with a high number of potential uses including food and animal feeds.

In South Africa, fish is a critical food source for many of the traditional fishing communities, many of whom are considered food insecure. Despite being considered a ‘food-secure’ nation, current studies indicate that South Africans are severely affected by vitamin A, vitamin D, iron, zinc and essential fatty acid deficiencies. Although the region has shown a decreasing trend in fish landings, South Africa’s aquaculture sector is still in its infant phase, and current government initiatives are fostering its sustainable development to contribute to food and nutrition security, poverty alleviation and income creation.

Objective